Some of the world's biggest advertisers are experimenting with using generative AI software like ChatGPT and DALL-E to cut costs and increase productivity, executives told Reuters. However, many companies remain wary of security and copyright risks as well as the dangers of unintended biases baked into the raw information feeding the software, meaning humans will remain part of the process for the foreseeable future.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI), which can be used to produce content based on past data, has become a buzzword over the past year, capturing the public's imagination and sparking interest across many industries. Marketing teams hope it will result in cheaper, faster and virtually limitless ways to advertise products. In fact, investment is already ramping up amid expectations AI could forever alter the way advertisers bring products to market, executives at two top consumer goods companies and the world's biggest ad agency told Reuters.
The technology can be used to create seemingly original text, images, and even computer code, based on training, instead of simply categorizing or identifying data like other AI. For example, WPP, the world's biggest advertising agency, is working with consumer goods companies including Nestle and Mondelez to use generative AI in advertising campaigns. "The savings can be 10 or 20 times. Rather than flying a film crew down to Africa to shoot a commercial, we have created that virtually," said its CEO, Mark Read, in an interview.
Another example is Unilever, which owns more than 400 brands including Dove soap and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and also has its own generative AI technology that can write product descriptions for retailers' websites and digital commerce sites. But Unilever is concerned about copyrights, intellectual property, privacy and data, Aaron Rajan, its Global Vice President of Go To Market Technology, told Reuters. The company wants to prevent its technology from reproducing human biases, like racial or gender stereotypes, that might be embedded in the data it processes. "Ensuring that these models when you type in certain terms are coming back with an unstereotyped view of the world is really critical," Rajan said.
Some consumer goods firms remain wary of security risks or copyright breaches, industry executives told Reuters. “If you want a rule of thumb: consider everything you tell an AI service as if it were a really juicy piece of gossip. Would you want it getting out?,” said Ben King, VP of Customer Trust at Okta, a provider of online authentication services. “Would you want someone else knowing the same sort of thing about you? If not, do not tell the AI,” he added.
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